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It's been a long time since I've written a non-ADF style ritual. The most recent was when I was developing the religion for Tuadem. Before that I mostly wrote Wiccan rituals. So I decided it might be fun write a ritual in a different style, one that didn't follow any specific tradition. This is the result. It's more of an exercise than something really intended for performance. But if you find something useful in it, I certainly won't complain.
When the mother is determined to be pregnant, the father finds a stick about six inches long on the ground. This stick is then carved into a rough human shape (like a clothespin) by the godfather. This talisman is kept by the mother throughout her pregnancy. At the very least, she sleeps with it in her bed; better yet is to wear it in some way during the day as well. She has to be careful not to lose it.
The piece of the umbilical cord that remains on the baby is saved when it falls off. As soon as it does (preferably that day, but if not, then the day after), close family and friends gather together. Each has brought an herb which has some symbolic meaning; each is a wish for the child: health, intelligence, wealth, love, etc.
The mother says:
I do not need to give the child a gift; I have already done that, and at the cost of much danger.
But you, who claim to hold my child’s interest high, give him/her what you wish that we might be bound together,
that you might be bound to him/her.
The father takes a long piece of twine and ties it around the talisman at the foot end, looping the twine clockwise. He then gives it to another, who puts their herb against it and loops the twine around the talisman once or twice, also clockwise, and then ties it. As they do so, they bless the child with what the herb symbolizes. For instance, while tying on sage they might say, “I bless you with purity.” After the specific part, each says, “This is my gift; with my giving, with this tying, I bind myself to this child.” They then pass the talisman to the next person to their right, who does the same thing.
The last person gives the talisman to the father, who wraps the bundle completely in twine. He starts with what is left over, and then adds as necessary. When all have been bound on, the final wrapping is done by the father. As he binds, he says:
Be you so bound, all of you, in bonds with my son/daughter,
tightly bound, with strong bonds.
I bind you, I bind your blessings.
The baby sleeps with the talisman in their crib for three days. On the fourth, everyone gathers again, this time by flowing water. The father unwraps the talisman enough to remove the stick. The umbilical cord remnant is put in its place, and the bundle is rewrapped. The father ties on a stone with a hole in it, one heavy enough to sink the bundle. (If one is not available, any stone which can be securely tied may be used, such as a long and narrow one.) As he ties it, the father says:
Be born throughout life with ease;
may all your beginnings be blessed.
The mother throws the bundle is thrown into the flowing water, saying:
May your life flow smoothly, child of mine;
may turbulence be overcome,
may you come to rest in the calm deeps when your journey is over;
may you flow in beauty, may you flow freely, may you flow in prosperity and strength.
The stick is kept with the baby until it is weaned, and then in the family shrine. When the person dies, their talisman is tied with a stone, and dropped by a child or other close relative into the same water their herb bundle had been dropped into, with the person dropping it saying:
To the dark place, the calm place, flow,
to the place of peace, flow,
flow and be at peace.
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